The NSA Had Plans to Spread Spyware Through Google's App Store

There's an app for that, and you're getting it whether you like it or not

New documents from Edward Snowden published by The Intercept expose the details of yet another NSA program designed to slurp up gargantuan amounts of information.This project, codenamed IRRITANT HORN, was designed to hijack a phone's connection to the Google or Samsung app store, and then inject spyware onto targets' phones.

According to the leaked documents, the plan was to use a man-in-the-middle attack to deliver malicious "implants" to certain devices. In essence, the NSA was exploring ways it could situate itself between you and the app store, passing along not only the apps you want, but an extra hit of malware as well.

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Once on phones, not only would these implants collect information, but ideally they'd be able to deliver it too. The leaked documents indicate that the NSA hoped to be able to use this same malware to surreptitiously supply their targets with inaccurate information through the very apps on the phone.

IRRITANT HORN was just a pilot program, and was being workshopped by the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom from November 2011 to February 2012. At the moment it's not totally clear whether the process was ever perfected, put in place or extended to affect iPhones and the Apple app store. But previous leaks have shown the NSA has always been pretty determined to get its hands on your mobile data, and it seems like it will go to any lengths to get it.